Drawn Together
by Bells-n-Akira
Summary: -edit- A stuttering Sakura and an amused Gaara... They've only just met but they've known each other for years... a/n:ok, so wat if gaara's OOC and Saku and Hina traded personalities? Call it artistic licence...


_A little doll with pink hair sat on the shelf, in a bird cage that the doll's owner had made at camp two summers ago. A shadow on the wall moved as a middle-aged man zipped his pants and left the room. A ten-year-old girl lay on the bed, on top of tear and semen stained sheets. She got up and went to the bathroom, wincing at the bloody stream that oozed down her leg._

_"Owie..." She whispered, and washed her lower half in the sink._

_She crept back to her room and curled up on the floor. She stared sadly up at the sky. She furrowed her eyebrows, and pulled out a tiny sketch pad, and a pencil, and closed her eyes, letting her hands wander of their own accord._

_Eventually, she fell asleep, her art forgotten beside her head, and she smiled slightly for the first time in years._

_-x-_

_Across the country, in a house that was nearly the same; a little red-haired boy stared emotionlessly up at the sky, a bloody straight-razor on the ground by his feet. His wrists were bound up already, and a maid sat outside his door, ready to burst in and stop him if he tried to take his life again that way. He didn't care, though. All he wanted was to feel something. He curled up on the window seat and looked out the window, and wondered if he'd ever be free of this cage he was kept in. His eyes narrowed, and he got up and went across the room, sitting at his desk and turning on the light. He pulled a large pad of blank white paper and a pencil toward him, and began to draw. Next, he reached for a pen and some colored pencils._

_After he had finished inking and coloring, he stopped to look at the picture, confused. Who was this smiling girl? He tore the page from the pad of paper, and went to put it with the other pictures he had drawn. He set it aside, and went to go stretch out in the window and await the dawn._

-xXx-

Sakura got up and dressed, careful not to wake her sleeping mother. She got the coffeemaker going, and made her breakfast, before leaving. She had braided her hair, but left her bangs down because she looked weird otherwise. She probably looked weird anyway, clutching a large blank sketch pad to her chest.

As she passed a certain house, she got an odd feeling, and shivered. She looked up at the mansion and wondered if the rumors were true, if the new rich family in town, the Sabakunos, really did have a young son who refused to leave the house. She heard the gates creak open, and hurriedly ran away, not wanting to get caught staring.

When she reached the park, she found that it was even earlier than usual. She went straight to the picnic tables with her sketch pad and her pencil bag.

She sat down at the first table and opened her brand new pad. She began to move the pencil over the paper, closing her eyes and letting her hands wander as usual. After a while, her hands stopped moving, so she opened them and began to darken the lines, revealing that she had drawn a large cage with heavy chains on it. Inside the cage was a face she had been preoccupied with for six years, on a body that she had never drawn before. It fascinated her, even as she traced the long lines of his legs, the leanly muscled body, the strong but thin arms, all encased in clothes that marked him as the captured prince of her imagination.

She reached for her pencil bag and began to fill in details. She had particular fun filling in his unruly red hair.

She smiled, amazed at her own mind, as the cage became gilded, the chains diamond-studded. The lock, in particular, was a very ornate padlock, and as tall as the boy in the cage.

"Nice picture. Who's the model you had to use to make this?"

Sakura froze.

"I-I d-didn't use a-any m-m-models..." She stuttered, turning to the boy behind her.

"Hey, Uzumaki, why are you talking to her?" Asked a very obnoxious blonde girl. Sakura bit back a whimper.

"Oi, quiet, Ino." Naruto turned to the blushing cherry blossom. "Are you sure? You made this guy up all on your own?" Sakura nodded. "Wow. I'm impressed."

"Th-thank you..." She said quietly, and turned back to her things and continued coloring. Something nagged at her, and she frowned, trying to figure out what was wrong. She studied it intently.

"Something wrong?" Naruto asked, noting the change in the girl's expression.

"What could it be? Did I forget to shade? No... " She noticed that the boy's hand was missing, and realized that she hadn't traced all the lines. She reached for her pencil again, and darkened the hand that reached out toward something. "Aha!" She cheered, and smiled again. She blew softly on the picture, and the lead chippings flew away. She tore out the paper and slipped it into a plastic sleeve, and put it into her binder, which she quickly stuffed into her bag.

"So, Sakura-chan." Naruto said, and she jumped.

"Y-yes?" She asked.

"How would you like to-"

"I have to go!" She said, and gathered her things into an orderly pile and put them back in her bag, before attempting to flee, and managed to get out of their eyesight. Unfortunately, she bumped into someone and lost her grip on her things. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" She went to her knees immediately, getting her stuff back. The person also went downward to help, and they hit heads. "Ow, sorry!"

"Stop apologizing." The person said dryly, his voice sounding dusty and unused. She looked up, and gasped.

"Oh my god..." She whispered.

"What?" He asked, looking up at her and reaffirming her discovery.

"I-I-It's YOU! Y-You're HIM!"

"Him who?" He asked, and she grabbed her binder from his hands and flipped it open, revealing the first drawing she had ever done of him, in which his face had been visible through a tower window and looking at the night sky.

"HIM!" She said, pointing. He looked at the picture of himself.

"Do you stalk me or something?"

"N-no..." She mumbled, disappointed that he seemed angry. She looked at the floor, mortified that she had acted so out of the ordinary, and closed the binder.

"Hey." He reached out and tilted her head up, and looked over her suddenly blushing face.

_He's so... gentle..._ was all she could think.

"You..." His eyes widened, and he pulled out a briefcase, opening it and inspecting the contents. He snapped it shut and stood, and held a hand out to her. She took it and he helped her up. "Come with me. I have a few questions." She nodded and followed.

He led her to the picnic tables again, and she slowed when she saw that Naruto, Ino, Sasuke, Hinata, and Neji were still there. He looked back at her, and followed her reluctant glances at them. He turned his sleepless eyes to them and cleared his throat. They looked at him and realized who he was.

"Shoo, would you?" They ran off in a hurry, and Sakura was led to a table beside a fountain that was surrounded by trees so that they wouldn't be overheard.

"You said you have some questions for me?" Sakura asked, looking at the boy across from her. He was wearing a clean white buttoned shirt and a black tie, and black slacks.

"To start with, I should introduce myself. My name is Gaara Sabakuno." He replied.

"Sakura H-Haruno..." She said, and Gaara frowned.

"Why the stutter?"

"F-force of habit..."

-x-

Gaara inspected the girl across from him. A few pink tendrils had escaped her braid, and her eyes were sad. She looked... broken down, from the inside out.

"Oh, questions... Is there a back-story for the prince in the tower?"

"Well, I first thought of him about... oh, it was six years ago, as I was about to fall asleep. I can't draw him as well with my eyes open, for some reason, as I can with my eyes closed..." She told him. "He's a prince who's trapped in his own castle tower, and he's terribly alone." She rested her head on one hand, and traced an outline of his face on the table with her finger. "He won't show it, though, not to anyone."

"Could you draw one for me?" Gaara asked suddenly, and she looked up.

"Hmm?"

"A picture with your eyes closed."

"Oh... okay..." She reached for her pad and pencil, and closed her eyes, and just thought for a moment, and let her hands wander as always.

He watched her make a lot of seemingly unrelated marks on the paper, and figured that she had lied. Until she opened her eyes and traced the lines, revealing her prince.

-x-

She watched the paper as her prince became real, sort of. This time, he was sitting in his room.

"Terribly alone, he is..." She whispered, drawing it into his eyes. "But he's never shown it..." She added a few details to his wall, and slid it across the table for Gaara to see. He looked at it.

"My god... This is... wonderful..."

Sakura watched his face as he inspected her work.

"The prince... He's all alone, always has been. Probably always will be." Gaara looked at her.

"Forcibly locked up, away from the world and no one even knows he exists." He said, and Sakura nodded.

"I once had an idea for some person who would save him, but I couldn't think of anyone who could." She frowned.

"Hm." Gaara said. He thought for a moment. He stood and held out his hand to her. "Come with me. I want to show you something."

She put her things in her bag and followed him, and laid her hand in his when he continued to hold it out to her.

_Heaven help me, he's holding my hand!_

They walked across town, and stopped in front of the house that gave her shivers. Gaara pressed a button.

"Sabakuno-sama? What are you doing outside the premises?" Asked a voice from the intercom.

"I went for a walk in the park. To calm my stormy thoughts."

"I-I see... I'll just open the gate now." True to her word, the door opened.

"Th-this is your house?" Sakura asked. Gaara shrugged.

"More like my prison." He said boredly, and walked in. She followed, not wanting to get lost.

"Gaara-kun, my dear, where have you been?" Asked a woman with short brown hair.

"I was at the park, Momo-chan."

"Who is this lovely young woman?" She cooed, walking over and inspecting Sakura.

"This is Sakura Haruno." Gaara said, and Sakura held out her hand.

"Nice you to meet you, Momo-chan. Sabakuno-san has told me many good things about you." She said with a genuine smile.

"Oh, well, it's nice to meet you, too, Ms. Haruno." Momo said.

"Um, Momo-chan, we're going up to the room now." Gaara said, and, with a hesitant glance over his shoulder at Sakura, hugged Momo, and rushed out of the room. Sakura and Momo chuckled, and then Sakura waved and left. She found him sitting on the stairs. He refused to look at her.

"Hey."

"..." She rolled her eyes, and sat beside him.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad." He still didn't respond. "She's your friend, right? I think it's great that you two are so close."

"Whatever." He muttered, and stood up. He led the way up the stairs.

When they came out on the third floor, Gaara smiled crookedly at Sakura.

"My floor."

"You have the entire third floor to yourself?"

"Well, I'm the only one who lives up here. Most of the rooms are storage, but I like to go through them. When I was about seven, I was cleaning one, and found a lot of drawing stuff. I made that my art room. There is also, of course," He tapped a door next to him. "My bedroom. But the art room is where we're going." He opened the door at the end of the hall. "Ta-dah..." He said sarcastically, opening the door for her.

"Wow..." She whispered, feeling suddenly insignificant. After all, all of her supplies could fit in one tiny bag.

Gaara tossed his briefcase onto a couch by the wall.

"In addition to drawing, which I do quite often, I also paint. Particularly this one person who has... haunted me." He said, walking to a canvas across the room. It was as tall as he was, and he turned it around, revealing a woman in torn clothes. There was a smudge of dirt over her nose, and a trickle of blood from the corner of her triumphantly smirking mouth. There was a blindfold over her eyes, and her hands were clasped in front of her, holding a large key. Her feet were bare. Sakura walked over and stood right in front of it. The painting was her height, more or less, and she was at eye-level with it.

-x-

Gaara looked at her, comparing the painting and the real girl. The woman in the painting had waist length hair while Sakura's was only to the middle of her back, but other than that... Sakura frowned, and narrowed her eyes. She leaned forward to look at something.

"What? Did something get spilt on it?" Gaara asked, walking over.

"No... I know that you can't erase paint the way you can pencil marks, but... This looks almost intentional. This right here?" Sakura pointed at a dark mark on the painting, where the woman's right shoulder was exposed by a rather nasty rip. Gaara smirked.

"That's because it was. I'll show you." He went to get his briefcase, and opened it, showing her the picture he had drawn that morning in the park. "I drew this shortly before I met you." Sakura looked at it. The woman in torn clothes had her hands held out. The key was floating over them. She was smiling, and her blindfold was pushed back. Sakura gasped.

-x-

"She... Her eyes..." Something else occurred to her, and she dove for her bag, pulled out her binder, and found the picture she had drawn in the park. She put it next to Gaara's picture, and her eyes widened. "Oh my... I thought so, but..."

"What is it, Haruno-san?" Gaara looked over her shoulder and gasped. "The two pictures..."

"It's like we..."

"Drew them next to each other..." Gaara finished.

The Prince's outstretched hand was extended toward the woman, whose arms were stretched forward, as if offering the key.

Gaara and Sakura looked at each other, both nelecting to notice that their faces were centimeters apart.

"This should never be apart. It's too perfect." Sakura said.

"I know. I have a frame. I'll go get it." He left to get the frame. Sakura sat on the floor and studied the two pictures of the woman. She looked at the woman's shoulder, and unzipped her jacket, sliding it off and laying it on the floor next to her bag. She rolled her right sleeve up, and looked at her arm.

"It's... the same..." She muttered. _The scar is the same..._

Gaara came back in with the frame, and they put the two pictures in, so that the two people featured could be together.

"I wonder if it was a coincidence." Sakura wondered out loud.

"That we both drew this morning, at more or less the same time, pictures which, when put together, look like one picture? That is no coincidence, Haruno-san. That's fate." He said. Something about the way he said her name made her shiver. She blushed a little.

"S-sorry." She mumbled, looking away.

"That's something I've been meaning to ask." He reached out and gently tilted her head back. She blinked in surprise, and blushed again.

"Wh-what is?"

"You didn't stutter at all when you met my maid." He said.

"Adults don't faze me. It's people my age who tend to judge me... It makes me nervous."

"I'm not judging you, Haruno-san..." He said.

"Well... I'm a lot more self-conscious when it comes to teenagers like me..." She said.

"I can tell." He chuckled, and she smiled back.

"I was wondering if, perhaps, my other pictures were the same, that they all have counterparts that you drew, but that seems unlikely. It's mostly the prince's history."

"Show me."

"Hmm?"

"His history. Show me... please?"

-x-

"Okay..." She pulled the little black binder toward her, and flipped it open to the first page. "This is the prince at eleven. It's the first picture of him I ever did." She said. She turned the page. "As you can see, he has a family. The king," She pointed at a taller, mean-looking version of the prince, standing in the middle of the page. She moved her finger to the left, to a blonde woman in a floor length tan dress, with a fan, "The princess, and," She pointed to a brown-haired boy with odd facial markings, "High prince. These are the visible members of the royal family, but, should anything happen to the king and high prince; my prince will be in charge." She said, smug for reasons unknown.

"So, he stays up in his tower all day, alone?" He asked, sitting close to her so that he could see the pictures.

"I wouldn't say alone. He has a raccoon-dog that hangs out with him." She turned the page to reveal a crazed-looking raccoon dog. "Unfortunately, the thing is not very sane, and, as a result, neither is my prince."

"So, he's all alone and crazy?"

"Well, not crazy. If he gets TOO lonely, he can just tell me, and I'll draw him a girlfriend, or something." She turned the page with a shrug.

"He can tell you?" Gaara asked dubiously.

"Yeah. If he lives in my head, then he can tell me anything." Sakura said. "This is my bittersweet picture."

"Why do you say that?" He asked.

"Well, I love that way I drew it. It looks so professional. But I hate it, because..." She trailed off. Gaara looked at the picture.

"Wow... That's... a lot of blood..." He said.

In the picture, the prince was sitting beneath his window, looking up at the full moon. In the darkened room, all you could see was blood sprayed on the walls. In one of the prince's hands was clutched a shard of bloody glass, and the window above him was broken out. Moonlight reflected off his eyes and blood, making them glow, but other than that, the room and prince were shrouded in shadows.

"Yeah. That's why I hate it." Sakura said bitterly. "I can't believe I can look at this with anything other than sickness. I shouldn't be able to see my prince half-dead and smile." She turned the page, and smiled. "This is one of my favorites. Prince and his teddy bear."

"Eleven years old, and he still has a teddy bear?" Gaara asked.

"Hey, with as little people as he gets to talk to, he needs someone to love him. He's seventeen now and still has it." She giggled. "He's so adorable, sprawled out across his bed with that little bear." She covered her mouth, and giggled even harder. Gaara blushed. He still had his teddy bear. "Anyway, I'm sure your peasant woman has some things about her that you find adorable."

"Hmm... well..." He thought to himself. "She has a doll-making kit..."

"Doll?"

"Yes." He reached over and grabbed his briefcase. "I think I have a picture somewhere in here..."

-x-

By the time lunch came, they had every one of their major pictures laid out on the floor, dated and matched up.

"Wow..." Sakura whispered. The door opened.

"Gaara-kun, I brought you lunch." Momo looked around. "Wow. I had no idea that you had drawn so many pictures..."

"Half of them are mine." Sakura said, and Momo cooed at her. Sakura smiled, when a phone rang. "That's me, I think." She pulled out a small cell phone. "Hello? Oh, okay." She hung up and gathered her things. "I got to go. Bye-bye." She said, and left.

-x-

A few days later, Sakura was walking out the door of the public library, when she bumped into someone.

"Oh!" She cried out as she hit the ground. She scrambled to gather her things. "S-sorry…"

"We've got to stop meeting like this."

Sakura looked up at the source of the sarcastic chuckle, and blushed when she saw Gaara standing over her. He reached down and took her by the hand, helping her up.

"Th-thanks… Sabakuno-san…"

"Not a problem... Haruno-san..." He said, and she blushed, sure that he was making fun of her.

"I... I... I have to go..." She tried to go around him, but he held his arm out so that it blocked her way. "Sabakuno-san?"

"Would you do the the honor of coming to the park with me?"

"Why?"

"Well, I would like you to give me the tour of the park, since my family is new to town, and I've never left my house before." He said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, thoroughly distracting her.

"O-oh... Okay..." She put her books in her bag and walked off toward the park, with Gaara following her closely.

-x-

She pointed out the benches, and the joggers path, which was more like a nice place for a walk during the winter and early spring months, and the place where the older ladies and gentlemen liked to sit and feed the ducks, and the play area for small children, and the bridge where couples made out in the early morning and late night, and even showed him the best places to hide if he ran away from home.

Eventually, they came to a large wall made of a hedge.

"And what's on the other side of this hedge?" Gaara asked, looking over at Haruno-san, who shrugged.

"That's a garden where, according to a myth perpetuated by the local Greek community, Aphrodite brings her lovers. It's the most popular date spot in town." She said sadly.

"Have you ever been in there?"

"No. The idea of it is noble and sweet, but the reality is that it's just another way for boys to trick their girlfriends out of their virginity."

"So I suppose that means that no one has ever asked you to come with them."

"Not that I would have said yes, but it still would have been nice to have been asked." She said.

"I see." Gaara grew quiet after that, and after the tour was over, he asked a strange question. "When is your birthday?"

"Er, what?"

"Your birthday. When is it?"

"Friday."

"I see. Friday."

After that, he turned and left abruptly, and Sakura, feeling a little spurned, went home.

-x-

The next day, at school, Sakura was opening her locker, when someone came up behind her and slammed it shut. She turned around and paled.

"He-hello, Yamanaka-san..." She stuttered.

"You were seen walking around the park with a boy who looked far too rich for you."

"I... I..."

"Look, Haruno, I don't ask much of you and your loser friends. All that I do ask of you freaks is that you keep your nasty little freak germs to yourselves."

"I-"

"Stay away from the cool people, and I'll stay away from you." She hissed and walked away.

Sakura ran to the art room and slammed the door behind her.

"Oh, hey, Saku-... Sakura-chan, what's wrong?" Asked a quiet dark-haired boy.

"Ino... She... I..." She sat on the couch and put her face in her hands. Sasuke sat down next to her and looked at her. He watched a tear fall out from between her fingers and wiped it off with a finger. Sakura looked over at him as he stared at it, then stuck it on his tongue. "Ew, Sasuke..." She made a face.

"What?"

"Why did you do that?"

"It made you stop crying, didn't it?" He leaned back. "Now tell me what happened."

-x-

That Friday, Sakura walked to her locker after last period as usual, followed by all her friends, who were going to give her a ride to the park so that they could all hang out by the picnic tables, and Itachi was going to grill some food for her birthday.

She opened her locker and a teddy bear and a note fell out. She picked them up, and, hugging the bear, looked at the note.

Haruno-san- Happy Birthday! I looked forever to find a bear that exactly matched that of your Prince, so I hope you like it. Gaara-kun.

"Aww, that's so sweet! Only, who's Gaara-kun?" HInata asked.

"A friend." Sakura answered. "Let's just go to the park."

-x-

Later, after all her friends had gone home for the night, Sakura texted her mom that she would be home soon, and went for a walk. Gaara was sitting there, although he was asleep. She walked over and shook his shoulder.

"Sabakuno-san?"

"Mmf?" He opened his eyes, saw her and sat up, yawning. "Oh, hello."

"Why are you out here in the cold?" She asked.

"I had no better place to be." He answered glibly, and she frowned.

"Sabakuno-san, it's freezing out here."

"Then why are you here?"

"I was just about to walk home."

"Well, I got into a fight with my dad, so I ran away. You told me the park was one of the best places, so I came here."

"You moron, not in the dead of winter! Use some common sense. Geez!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him off to her house.

-x-

When they got there, Sakura unlocked the door and went upstairs.

"Stay where you are, Sabakuno-san."

"Please, Haruno-san, call me Gaara-kun."

"Then you call me Sakura-chan."

"Okay. So, Sakura-chan, do you often drag boys home?"

"No. Most of the boys I know have the sense not to sleep in the park in thirty degree weather." She looked down the stairs at him. "Did you at least pack some clothes?"

"Yes."

"Good. Then you can take a shower."

"What?"

"Oh, you can stay here until you decide where to go next, of course."

"Where will I be sleeping?"

"Erm... The couch? Momma wouldn't mind."

-x-

After he had showered, Sakura's mom, strangely, still wasn't home. He sat in the kitchen while Sakura moved around the small house, cleaning out the extra bedroom.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash, and Gaara jumped to his feet and ran into the guest room.

"Sakura-chan?" He said, slightly worried. He heard a cough.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine. Just a little," She broke off to cough, "Dusty in here..." Gaara sighed and then went to get her a glass of water.

"Here."

"Thanks." She drank it, and then sighed, stirring up more dust. "Could you help me?"

"I suppose, since I'm sleeping here tonight, I owe you something." He said, and shifted slightly. "So what do you need me to do?"

_Kiss me..._ She thought, then almost instantly blushed. _How can I think something like that? I hardly know him!_

_**Even though we've been drawing each other for about seven years now?**_

Choosing to ignore that last comment of her inner self, she cleared her throat. "Um... Let's start with moving the boxes out of here." She bent down and grabbed a pile of boxes and carried them to the other room. Gaara picked up some boxes and followed her. There weren't that many, and they soon finished, and shifted to moving out all the furniture. "Could you bring me the broom, hon- Er, Gaara-kun?"

Amused, he grabbed the broom and handed it to her. She tried to focus her mind on the task at hand, but sweeping was such a repetitive action that she found her mind constantly jumping to her scarlet-haired companion. She found herself wanting to know more about him, although it really was none of her business what his past was like, but he was currently in her house, moving he furniture for her and helping her clean. When it came time to retire for the night, he'd be on her couch, and therefore it was completely her business what kind of person he was, and-

Her fierce internal battle was interrupted by the phone ringing, and she leaned the broom against the wall. "Be right back, Gaara-kun." She said as she left the room, startling him out of his own thoughts.

Gaara grabbed the broom and resumed the sweeping, trying very hard not to listen in on Sakura's phone conversation. But the walls were so thin...

"Hello, Haruno residence. Oh, hey, momma. I have to tell you something... Okay, you first... Oh... You won't?,,, O-okay... S-see you next week, then. Alright, bye. Yeah, I love you, too."

He heard the phone get put back on its base, and then the sound of the springs in Sakura's couch groaning. He stayed where he was, figuring that he was meant to know, she'd come in and tell him. Although, from what he'd heard...

"Gaara-kun..." He looked up and saw her standing in the doorway.

"Yes, Sakura-chan?"

"Drop the suffix..." She mumbled. "My mom won't be here tonight, she got sent on a last minute business trip..."

"Really? How long?"

"... Until Tuesday..." She said, and sagged against the frame of the door. He shrugged and turned back to sweeping.

"Well. That's not very good news."

"Not very good news? How would you feel if your mother took off for three days and didn't tell you?"

"I don't have to worry about that. My mother's not going anywhere."

"See, you can't possibly-"

"Because she's dead, Sakura-chan. She died when I was born." He shrugged. "I'm not very attached to my family."

"Well Momma's the only... Well, most of the family I have." Gaara decided to let it go. "Hey, have you been sweeping this whole time?" She asked, walking over to stand behind him. He frowned.

"Yes. Why?" She giggled softly and gently pulled the broom from his hands.

"For one thing, you're holding the broom wrong." She held it in both hands. "This is how you're supposed to hold it." She grabbed his hands and laid them on top of hers. "And this is how you're supposed to sweep." She began to sweep, still holding his hands. After a bit, she stopped. "Think you have it now?"

"I think so." He said, a little disappointed that the instruction was over. She smirked and poked his nose.

"If you're a good boy, I'll teach you how to do dishes." She said, and left the room. He sighed and shook his head, smirking slightly. With a final look through the door to make sure she was gone, he turned at last back to sweeping the floor.

In the other room, Sakura was dusting the shelves that had been in the room, and so covered in dust and other filth that she thought it improbable that it had ever been cleaned. She had to get out a pad of steel wool to scrub one of them, and the other required four changes of soapy water before it was completely clean.

Then there was the matter of the many things she had found on the shelves. There were pictures of cakes and dresses and flowers and islands and other such things, that she stacked and set aside next to far out-dated bridal magazines she'd also found. There was crystal dishes and china dishes and silk napkins and sterling silver napkin rings and four cast iron goblets with matching candlabra and one solid gold vase that could once possibly have been a centerpiece. She smiled and put them in an empty box which she then stuffed with newspapers to keep the items inside safe, before setting it aside. There was a growing pile of things that had probably once been meant for the trash, but had somehow gotten put on the shelf and forgotten.

But the thing that stuck out most of all was a small box, about the size of a ring box, except that it was cardboard. Sakura opened it, and a roll of paper came out.

Dearest...

I love you and only you and all I want for

Yule this year is your hand in marriage.

Please, I beg of you, do me the honor of

becoming my partner in life and love.

Always yours,

K

Sakura smiled. _This must be the note that Mom had gotten from... No, not him... Mom's first boyfriend... What was his name again? Aw forget it._

She set the box aside and sighed. That was everything from the shelves. Time to check on Gaara. She stood and walked around the back of the couch and down the short hall. She leaned into the room.

"Gaara-kun, how's it coming?"

"I'm finished." He said, and when she looked around in there, the floor, sure enough, was clean.

"Wow."

"What, just because I'm rich, that means I don't know how to clean?" He asked, and she snorted.

"Before ten minutes ago, Gaara-kun, you didn't even know how to hold the broom right."

"Whatever." He set the broom aside and held out the dustpan. "I'll hold this and you can sweep the pile into it." Sakura looked down at the pile.

"I'll go get the trashcan."

Ditching the dirt was faster than either of them had originally thought, and soon they were moving the bed and dresser and shelves back into the room. While Gaara was moving the shelves back into the room, Sakura dragged the old mattress out the back door and beat it with a walking stick until no more dust poofs came out on contact. Then she dragged it back in and, with Gaara's help, got it back onto the bed. She took the ancient sheets, pillowcases, and blankets and put them in the laundry. Upon closer inspection of the pillows themselves, she put them in the washer, too, and started it, then went upstairs for her mom's pillows, which she put in fresh cases, and took them downstairs, along with clean sheets and blankets she had gotten from the linen closet.

"Alright, Gaara-kun, you have a choice. Ancient spring mattress, or ancient pull-out couch?" She said as she made up the bed.

"Hm. Mattress, definately."

"Good choice. This can be your room, for the time being, anyway." She said, and went upstairs to move the things in the washer to the dryer, and put more clothes in the washer.

When she came back downstairs, he was standing in the extra bedroom, looking around, and she shook her head, amused, and went to the kitchen.

She opened the fridge and looked around, then pulled out some vegetables and meat. She started boiling water, heating a skillet, and chopping the vegetables.

As she put the pork chops in the skillet and the veggies in the pot to boil, Gaara walked in.

"I smelled food."

"Astute observation, Gaara-kun." She teased, and he rolled his eyes.

-x-

As they sat down for dinner, the doorbell rang, and Sakura stood up to answer it.

"Yes?" She said as she opened the door.

"Hello, Haruno." Ino said, as if just talking was a great gift to the pink-haired girl in the doorway. She looked her over, then peeked into the house. "Why are you all dusty?"

"I just cleaned the extra bedroom."

"Lax cleaning in the past is the only excuse I can think of for you getting so dirty in the process."

"I'll have you know, I only just found the key to the room last week, and I've been busy until today."

"So poor organization, then?"

"How often do you clean your attic?" Sakura retorted.

"Never."

"I do it from now and then, whenever I find the time, and last week, while cleaning, I found the key." Sakura explained.

"You clean so often. Practicing for the inevitable?"

"Shut up." Gaara said, and Sakura jumped. She looked over at him and put her hands on her hips.

"Don't do that, Gaara-kun. You just almost gave me a heartattack." She frowned, and he shrugged imperceptably.

"Haruno, tell me something."

"Being?"

"How did you come to have this person in your house?"

"Wh-who do you mean?"

"Him, of course." Ino pointed at Gaara, then froze. "And... Pray tell... Why is he just as dirty as you are?"

"I was helping her clean the guest room."

"Why?"

"Because, that's where I'm sleeping tonight, due to my running away and deciding that I should sleep in the park."

"How did that bring you here?"

"She found me and told me that only morons sleep outside in thirty degree weather."

Ino rounded on Sakura. "Haruno..."

"I... Erm..." Ino stormed away before Sakura could finish her sentence, and Sakura paled. She looked down and turned back into the house, Gaara following closely behind. Sakura sat at the table silently, looking like she was on the edge of tears.

"Sakura-chan, what's wrong?"

"Leave."

"What?"

"You heard me. Leave. Take the plate with you. I don't care." She pulled her legs up and put her feet in the chair.

"Why?" Gaara was confused. Just a little while ago, this girl had been commanding him to stay the night.

"Ino's going to tell all her friends... And if you're here in the morning... It'll be worse..."

"What will?"

"You don't know because you've never had to worry about the rules, and never will, since you come from a rich family. But people like me aren't supposed to hang around with people like you. So go away." She put her head on her knees so that he wouldn't see her cry.

"Sakura-chan, if it's a fight you're worried about, I can protect you. Just don't make me-"

"You've done enough. Don't come back here." She mumbled. Gaara's eyes widened, then narrowed.

"Fine. I see how you are." He stood up straight and walked to the door. "I'll see you at school on Monday." As he closed the door behind him, she burst into tears and ran upstairs to watch him from her window. He walked down the corner of the street, hands in his pockets, and didn't look at all as if he were homeless, or a runaway.

_I should go tell him it was all a joke, and I didn't mean a word of it, and to please come back..._

**That would never work. You saw his face when you told him not to come back. He was so upset he forgot his bag.**

_Then what should I do?_

**Just forget about him. It's better if we get the minimal ass-kicking that's already coming to us. We'll just take what we get, and then go to class, talk to Sasori and Dei-kun, and move on with life**.

"I can't just forget him... I draw him constantly..." She curled up on the bed, effectively going away from the window, and cried until she fell asleep.


End file.
